fly
n. countablen. a small insect with two wings. Many types of flies are common in homes, especially during the summer.
n. a small winged insect of the order Diptera. The term is often used broadly for many flying insects but scientifically refers to those with a single pair of wings.
A fly is buzzing around the room.
He waved his hand to shoo a fly away from his lunch.
The still life painting was so realistic you could almost see the shimmer on the wings of the fly resting on the pear.
From Middle English flye, flie, from Old English flȳġe, flēoge (“a fly”), from Proto-West Germanic fleugā, from Proto-Germanic fleugǭ (“a fly”), from Proto-Indo-European *plewk- (“to fly”). Cognate with Scots flee, Saterland Frisian Fljooge, Dutch vlieg, German Low German Fleeg, German Fliege, Danish flue, Norwegian Bokmål flue, Norwegian Nynorsk fluge, Swedish fluga, Icelandic fluga.
From Middle English flien, from Old English flēogan, from Proto-West Germanic fleugan, from Proto-Germanic fleuganą, from Proto-Indo-European plewk- (plew-k-, “to fly”), enlargement of *plew- (“flow”). Compare Etymology 1. See also Saterland Frisian fljooge, Dutch vliegen, Low German flegen, German fliegen, Danish flyve, Norwegian Nynorsk flyga; also Lithuanian plaũkti ‘to swim’). More at flee and flow.
From Middle English flye (“flying, flight”), from Old English flyge (“flying, flight”), from Proto-Germanic *flugiz.
Uncertain; probably from the verb or noun.
Related to German Flügel (“a wing”), Dutch vleugel (“a wing”), Swedish flygel (“a wing”).
flysfliesThe plural of nouns ending in a consonant + 'y' is formed by changing 'y' to 'ies'.